Mermaids and what else?
by xChaoticDawnx
Summary: Yami and his friends are out fishing when their boat tips and they are all rescued by the mysterious merfolk, one of which Yami met when he was a young boy. Everything changes for Yami and his friends when they discover what really lies in the sea. Yami/Hikari pairings and Seto/Joey
1. Chapter 1

**I was reading a little mermaid yugioh story the other day and that inspired me to watch the actual movie, and that meant I just _had_ to write this. No this isnt based on the little mermaid, its just a random mermaid story. Its also my birthday today so I decided to post this today rather than delay it a while.**

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Chapter 1:

Every day since his family had moved to Domino Yami had come to the beach and watched the waves to relax himself, he never missed a day, even if he only stopped by for 5 minutes after school before heading home. He lived only a 10 minute walk from the beach and his school was just another 10 from there. He was currently 11 and in primary school, Domino's high school was just another 5 minutes from the primary, overall Domino was actually a rather small place.

His family had moved there after his father got a job working for a big gaming company, the company was actually run by Yami's uncle Gozaburo. He'd been asking his father to work for him for a few years now as he was an expert in his field but he'd only recently decided to accept the job, mostly to be closer to his family, not his brother, but his brother's sons who he felt needed a better father figure in their life. Gozaburo wasn't in his sons' lives much as he was much more focused on his company than his family. So Yami spent a lot of time with his cousins, Seto was his age but Mokuba only 7. They all went to the same primary, so if anyone gave Mokuba trouble, Yami and Seto would deal with them. Seto rarely came with Yami to the beach, but Mokuba would come whenever his over-protective brother would actually let him.

The beach was usually mostly deserted at times like this, during autumn when the sun was just going down, but Yami enjoyed it, the slight chill in the air and the quiet lapping of the waves. He sat at the top of the rocks, playing with the millennium puzzle in his hands and stared out across the sea. His father use to travel a lot when he was younger and he'd gotten the millennium puzzle from a stall back in Egypt, he was always fascinated with it but could never solve it, so when Yami was born he gave it to him and it was solved by the time he was 8. It never left its place around his neck over the past 3 years except to sleep, take showers or swim, he never wanted to risk getting it damaged.

Yami took the millennium puzzle off to get a better look at it. He didn't know why, but he'd always had a connection to it since the moment he'd solved it. When he turned it around in the sunlight it sent rays shooting in all directions and his curiosity towards it grew. He didn't know anything about it other than that it came from Egypt, who made it and why was still a mystery to him.

He was too busy looking at the puzzle that when he moved his foot and it slipped on the damp rocks he stumbled forward slightly on the rock, accidentally letting the puzzle go and watched as it stumbled all the way down the rocks to where he couldn't see it. In seconds he was climbing down the rocks, careful not to slip again as he made his way down the left side of the rocks where it was easiest to climb down. When he finally found himself at the bottom he walked back around to where it had dropped.

As he rounded the corner he came to a stop, completely shocked at what was in front of him. The millennium puzzle sat in the arms of another boy. The boy wasn't just any ordinary kid, where his legs should have been instead lay an amethyst scaled tail. The boy looked up at Yami and his eyes widened in shock as he tried to squirm at get back to the water that was only a few metres away.

Yami took a few steps forward and reached out a hand trying to calm the boy down. "It's okay! I don't want to hurt you, I was just looking for my puzzle," he said, pointing towards the puzzle still sitting in the boys hands.

The boy swallowed nervously and held out he puzzle towards Yami. "This?" he asked shyly. His eyes were hidden beneath his golden bangs as he tried his best to hide himself.

Yami nodded and walked closer to the other boy, when he saw that he wasn't going to try to flee again he kneeled down next to him and brushed the boys bangs out of his face. The other boy flinched and looked up at Yami. For the first time he was able to see his eyes, they were the same beautiful shade of purple as his tail and had such an innocence about them that made Yami feel guilty for frightening him.

"What's your name?" Yami asked as he rested his hands in his lap and made himself more comfortable on the sand.

The other boy placed the millennium puzzle on the ground next to him and used his hands to prop himself up properly. "Yugi," he said, his tail twitching anxiously.

"I've never seen a mermaid before, or merman, merboy, if that's what you prefer?" Yugi confirmed that with a nod but didn't say anything, just sat quietly watching the strange boy in front him as he looked over his tail. "I didn't think they were real," he said dreamily, unable to tear his eyes away from the boy's tail.

After a few minutes of silence Yugi shifted and and picked up the puzzle. "You were wanting this?" he asked, starting to feel uncomfortable sitting in silence.

Yami looked back up at Yugi's face and he snapped out of it, he shook his head when he saw Yugi offering him the puzzle. "You should keep it." It felt right. When he'd first seen Yugi with the puzzle he had looked completely hypnotised by the beautiful lights being reflected off it.

Yugi looked shocked, he looked back down at the puzzle for a second then back up at Yami. After a few seconds he made a decision and put the puzzle on the ground and reached up around his neck to remove the seashell necklace he was wearing. He offered it out to Yami who took it in his hands and raised it to eye-level to get a better look at it. It was simple yet beautiful. There were several colourful smaller shells on either side of the large pink seashell in the centre, it was all on rather strong seaweed that acted as the chain.

"Thank you," Yami said as he smiled at Yugi. He lay the necklace on his lap and instead picked up the puzzle, put it around Yugi's neck and it fell against Yugi's chest in the place of his old necklace. Yami smiled again when he saw Yugi blushing and trying to hide under his bangs again.

Yami looked up at the sky and saw the sun starting to disappear over the horizon. "I have to go now," he said as he looked back at Yugi. He picked up the necklace and wrapped it around his own neck as he stood up. "Thank you for this," he said, holding the centre shell delicately in his hand.

Yugi nodded his head and move over to the water, his tail splashed in it slightly as he looked back at Yami who stood by watching.

"We'll meet again some day," Yami promised when he saw Yugi looking sadly at him like he would never see him again.

Yugi nodded his head and pulled himself further into the water until he was just floating on the top of it, his tail hidden under the waves. "I've never talked to a human before," he said, trailing off as he looked at Yami. "But I know we'll meet again some day," he said, confirming it with a nod.

Yami watched from the shore as Yugi turned and dived into the water, his tail splashing on the surface for a split second before he was gone.

Yami sat and watched the sun set for a few minutes before going home, still completely shocked at what he'd just seen. Afterall, mermaids were real, who wouldn't be shocked? Yami smiled as he walked down the street towards his house, just now realising what this meant. If mermaids were real, what else was out there?

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**Hope you liked the first chapter, I would almost be tempted to just leave it as a random little oneshot but wheres the fun in that? x) I'll update as soon as I can!**

**By the way, in this Domino is a small town near the beach, just because its easier that way. If you've got any questions just ask :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all SO much for the reviews, follows and favourites! I just love that people are actually reading this and I hope this chapter is okay, its defintely longer than the first one anyway.**

**Inspiration's Wonderer**** : Well that first questions answered pretty much right away, and yes, all of them are mermen or whatever they should be called, along with a couple of other suprise characters later on x)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own yugioh, if I did it wouldn't have been nearly as awesome as it was.**

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Chapter 2:

Yami always loved the beach, he tried to visit it every day but high school life made that difficult. More homework, his friends constantly wanting to hang out with him, now he was lucking if he made it twice in one week. But today was the weekend and his 17th birthday, so while he wasn't exactly at the beach per say, being on the water was just as good. For his birthday, Seto had offered to take him and his friends out on his new boat, and so here they were fishing on the ocean just a little out from the beach itself, or rather Yami tried to fish while Bakura tried to bait him into letting him throw explosives in the water.

"Bakura, you are not throwing explosives in the water!" Yami yelled for what seemed like the 100th time.

"Well what else am I suppose to do with them?" Bakura asked as he waved the box in Yami's face. "Blow up some boring warehouse?"

"That's really not much better Bakura, you _can_ actually get in trouble from that sort of thing," Yami pointed out. "You're not invincible."

"As if anyone could catch me," Bakura scoffed, dropping the box on the ground and went to lean up against the rail. "Can't you just see it though? All that water flying into the air in one big explosion, probably make some foofy rainbow for you even."

"You're not blowing anything up, and I don't even want to know where you got them in the first place." Yami leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "There's more to life than destruction and stealing, Bakura."

"Like what?" Mariku asked as he leaned on the back of Yami's chair.

"Like this," Yami said, signalling to everything around them.

"Which is why we wanna blow it up!" Bakura yelled, throwing his arms into the air.

"Your friends are weird," Seto muttered as he walked over. "Why do you like them?"

Yami honestly didn't know why, he just sort of became friends with them without realising it. When he first came to High School he wasn't really friends with anyone but Seto, Bakura and Mariku were both new to Domino, Mariku from Egypt and Bakura from Britain.

It was the first day of school and Yami ran into trouble with some bullies, he could handle himself against a couple of guys but it was 5 on 1, that's when Bakura stepped in, purely because he liked causing trouble, and they both managed to scare them off. Bakura and Yami became friends simply because Bakura couldn't stand people and he found Yami tolerable. Mariku was a different story, after only a week at his new school Mariku decided to make himself a reputation as a troublemaker and a prankster, this was when he though it would be a good idea to pull the fire alarm and wait for everyone to go outside before releasing several rather large farm animals in the building. Yami and Bakura were the only ones still in the building because Bakura had wanted to check out the fire if there really was one, which he was sad to find out there wasn't, but he was pretty excited when he found Mariku releasing animals in the school, so he helped him. Yami didn't know what to do so he just stood watch while he waited for them, and after warning them of a teacher and getting out of there before any of them were caught, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship of covering for Bakura and Mariku while they caused trouble.

The four of them weren't exactly what you would call friends, it was only because they could tolerate each other that it seemed like that, at school they hung out together but they didn't talk all that much like normal friends would, they mostly just sat in silence while they each did their own thing, it worked for them.

But why Yami decided it would be a good idea for all of them to go fishing, he had no clue.

"I honestly don't know," Yami said, he stood up from his chair and went to check his fishing rod, but still nothing. Fishing wasn't exactly exciting, but that wasn't really why he wanted to come out here, it was simply because he loved the water.

He looked at the sky and saw the clouds starting to turn grey. "We should go back, there might be a storm coming," he said and turned to look at everyone else but no one was paying attention.

"Mariku you prick, come back here!"

Yami raised an eyebrow when he saw Mariku being chased around the boat by a shirtless Bakura, he didn't really want to know, but he supposed he should help. "Mariku, give Bakura his shirt back!" Yami yelled as he walked over.

Both came to a halt, Bakura shooting death glares at Mariku. Mariku waved Bakura'a shirt in the air. "It's not my fault he left his shirt unattended, I don't see it being my problem if it somehow ended up the water."

Yami walked over to Mariku and snatched the shirt out of his hand and tossed it back towards Bakura. "And I thought you were the thief," he muttered as he walked past Bakura and went over to where Seto was sitting in a chair typing away on his laptop. "Don't you think it's getting a little too grey?" he asked as he took the seat next to him, hoping to talk to someone he dubbed sane.

"It'll be fine, I've seen worse," Seto said without looking up from his laptop.

Yami sighed as he looked at the storms clouds that were coming closer. It wasn't until they heard thunder booming that everyone else on the boat decided to listen to Yami.

"We need to go back," Yami said once everyone was finally paying attention. Everyone else agreed and Seto got out of his chair to go turn the boat around.

Yami put on a raincoat as it started to rain slightly, he pulled in the fishing roads and threw them onto the deck before heading over to Bakura and Mariku who actually looked genuinely concerned about the storm, neither were particularly fond of the water, ironic considering they were on a boat.

"Put on your coats if you don't want to get wet," he said, pointing to the raincoats that were sitting on one of the chairs. "If you two hadn't been running around like children we might have avoided thi- Woah!" The three of them were all tossed aside as a wave crashed into the boat, Bakura grabbed onto the railing while Mariku and Yami were thrown to the ground.

"Where did this storm come from?" Bakura shouted as he straightened himself out and glared up at the sky. "It wasn't like this before."

"Seto!" Yami yelled when he finally managed to pull himself and Mariku up. He walked around to where Seto should have been but couldn't see him anywhere. "Seto, where did you go?" he shouted over the storm.

"Yami, he's down there!" Bakura shouted, pointing over the side of the ship.

Yami leaned over the edge to see Seto struggling against the current. "Dammit," he growled as he threw off his coat and climbed over the edge, sitting there for a few moments while he prepared himself to jump.

"Yami what are you doing?" Bakura yelled as he pulled on his own coat to avoid getting any more soaked.

"Seto needs help," Yami replied. He pushed off from the boat and was plunged into the freezing water. Pushing away the water as he forced his way to the surface. "Seto!" he yelled as he looked around, trying to avoid getting pushed around by the waves.

"Look out!" He heard Seto yell from wherever he was and turned around to see Bakura and Mariku fall off the side off the boat as was hit by a large wave, throwing it off balance as it toppled over. The four of them were all plunged into darkness as the boat pushed them under the water.

Yami dived down and swam away from the boat, trying to ignore his already aching muscles and his soaked clothing. "Bakura, Mariku, Seto!" he coughed when he broke through the water. His wet hair clung to his face, making it difficult to see anything. Another strong wave crashed into him and he went under again. He still couldn't see his friends anywhere and he felt himself growing tired as his eyes started to close.

'Help us,' he thought as his sight went black and he fell unconscious.

* * *

"Yugi I'm not sure about this," a white haired boy whispered as he looked around nervously at his surroundings.

"It's alright Ryou," Yugi said, gazing at everything as he rested his arms on a rock that stuck out of the water.

"I never would have guessed it when I first met ya Yugi, but you're actually quite a trouble maker," Joey said as he swum up next to them. "You know we're not allowed on the surface."

"Yugi's obsessed," Malik muttered when he finally caught up to the rest of them. "He can't last a week without going up to the surface .

Yugi hit his friends on their arms and gave them a stern look. "I'm right here you know."

"We realised that," Malik said, smirking when he saw Yugi get more annoyed with him.

"I can't help it, ever since I got this I always feel drawn to the surface." Yugi held the puzzle in his hand as he remembered the day the boy gave it to him. "Humans are so different, they're interesting to watch."

Malik splashed the surface with his tail as he spun around to rest his back against the rock instead. "Humans are weird, they're never happy with what they have and always want more. They're so violent and greedy, I don't see why you'd want anything to do with them."

"They're not all bad," Ryou whispered as he peered over the rock to where he could see 2 little children playing on the sand much further away. "Human kids are actually rather cute."

"Yugi thinks the same for all humans," Joey teased, earning himself a further bruised arm from Yugi.

"Humans are just interesting is all, I mean look at that boat over there, they live on land and yet they still want to be close to the water. Why don't they jump in? Why do they just stand up there_ looking_ at the water when they could be _in_ it." Yugi pushed himself away from the rock and dived under the water, resurfacing just a few metres away. "Why don't they just take what they want rather than looking at it?"

"From what I've seen some humans _do_ do that but they are generally just stealing from another person. Humans are not creatures of much sense," Malik said as he watched the boat as well. "They sit around doing absolutely nothing from what I've observed."

Ryou's chocolate coloured tail vanished under the water as he dived under and resurfaced next to them. "Not all of them are like that, some have good hearts. Haven't you ever seen the family's spending time together on the beach, they seem genuinely happy to me."

"Man Ryou, you're just as bad as Yug' is. I'm gonna go back," Joey muttered as he prepared himself to dive back into the water.

"Wait, look over there!" Yugi yelled, pulling on Joey's arm and pointing at the boat. The pressure of the waves had knocked somebody out of the boat.

"Maybe we should go take a look?" Ryou whispered as he watched another male jump after the first.

Malik grabbed Yugi and Ryou's arms and pulled them back slightly. "Sometimes people fall out of boats, it happens, they'll be fine."

The four of they stayed silent as they watched the scene from afar. None of the moved until they saw the boat completely tip and 2 more figures fell from it.

"I don't think they can fight the current, they need our help," Yugi decided as he swam forward ignoring Joey and Malik's protests, Ryou nodded and followed him with Joey and Malik slowly trailing behind.

Yugi signalled for the others to help while he himself tried to find one of the people he'd seen fall from the boat. Through the dark water he just managed to see a spikey haired figure slowly falling to the bottom of the ocean. Yugi swam towards him, grabbed his arm and pulled him up to the surface. It wasn't until they were back in the light of the sun that Yugi realised who he'd just saved. Yugi brushed the bangs out of the unconscious boy's face and looked closely at him. 'He looks just like the boy I met on the beach all those years ago..'

Yugi looked over his shoulder at his friends and saw each of them carrying one of the unconscious boys from the boat. Yugi nodded to them and then began to swim towards the shore, but further down the beach where it was deserted. The four of them came up to a little cave that the water ran into and collapsed onto the ground of the cave, each dropping the people they were carrying on the ground as well.

"What if someone saw us?" Malik snapped as he pulled himself over to Yugi, but no one was listening to him, they were all too focused on the people they'd just saved.

The cave was located at the far end of the beach, a pool of water sat in the centre of it, it was mostly closed off except for the river that flowed into it and the slight opening to the left of that that lead to the beach. Each of them sat on the floor of the cave with their tails hanging in the water, the people they just saved lay in front of them.

"What do we do now?" Ryou asked, concerned for the people they'd just saved.

"Well they're breathing at least.." Joey offered, poking the side of the one he'd saved, a young brunet wearing a drenched silver coat.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Ryou asked as he looked over the white haired boy in front of him for any injuries.

Yugi looked at the tanned boy in front of him and held the puzzle he was wearing in his hands. "He's the one who gave this to me," he whispered just loud enough for the others to hear.

"What? Are you sure?" Malik asked, staring at the boy in amazement.

Yugi had told them about the first human he met, the mysterious boy named Yami who gave him the millennium puzzle. They weren't sure what to think because Yugi had been seen by a real human who could have revealed his secret, but Yugi had insisted to them that they could trust him, and seeing how much the puzzle grew to mean to Yugi, they decided to believe him. And seeing that the boy was here in front of them, they weren't sure what to say.

Yugi nodded his head and turned to look at his friends. "Yami, that's definitely him."

Joey looked at Yami for a few seconds before turning to the rest of the people they saved. "I wonder who they are?"

"That one looks a lot like you Ryou," Malik said, pointing to the white haired one lying next to Yami.

"And Yami there looks a lot like Yug," Joey pointed out. "The insane one looks like you Malik," Joey said, smiling cheekily at Malik.

Malik threw a dirty look at his friend before turning to looking at the crazy haired blonde in front of him. "I guess," he said, resting his chin in one hand, "If he tamed that psycho hair a little."

The four of them sat discussing the people they saved for a few minutes until they heard coughing and all turned to face Yami who had just woken up.

Yami struggled to sit up and rested him head in one hand, probably having a pounding headache after what happened. His crimson eyes widened the moment he noticed them all sitting around the edge of the water, but he moment he saw Yugi he nearly choked. He looked down at the puzzle that sat around Yugi's neck then back up at his face. "Yugi?"

"You remember?" Yugi whispered, noticing how much older Yami looked since they met 6 years ago, but there was no mistaking it was him, not many people shared their hair and certainly no one he'd seen had eyes that could look quite so cold and inviting at the same time.

The corner of Yami's mouth turned up in a small smirk. "How could I forget?"

"Yugi we should go," Malik said, starting to panic at the idea of being around so many people, especially since the second one started waking up.

"Yami, what happened?" the white haired boy growled as he sat up. It wasn't until he opened his eyes properly that he saw Yugi and his friends sitting there. He took a look at their tails and immediately looked puzzled. "What kind of joke is this? It's not very funny," he muttered, running his hand through his hair to try and fix it up a little.

"Bakura, this is actually happening," Yami said, not entirely sure how he convince his friend it wasn't fake.

"Yeah right," Bakura muttered, shoving blonde next to him. "Mariku, wake up and check out these weird costumes." Bakura leaned over and poked Ryou's tail, freaking him out and making him fall backwards into the water, splashing everyone in the process including the 2 still sleeping. "Felt pretty real," Bakura said sleepily, wiping his eyes and taking a second look at Ryou who was now trying to hide himself in the water.

Joey and Malik had both pushed themselves into the water, only Yugi was still sitting up there. The other 2 males woke up and looked at Yugi as though he were insane.

"It's not Halloween yet kid," the brunet commented while he straightened out his hair and clothing.

"I'm 16!" Yugi snapped, not noticing the looks his friends were giving him as they tried to get him to get out of there. "And it's not a costume."

"Yami, didn't you use to have a puzzle like that?" the brunet asked, just notching the puzzle hanging around Yugi's neck.

"I gave him the puzzle," he explained. "Several years ago actually."

"You know him?" Bakura asked, now curious as to where this was going.

"Yugi!" Malik snapped, pulling on his friends arm trying to get his friends attention.

It wasn't until he saw all 4 of the people they'd saved staring at him that he realised how dangerous it was for him to be talking to them. Suddenly Yugi plunged into the water and swam out the entrance to the cave, quickly followed by the rest of his friends, Ryou throwing a terrified glance at Bakura before he left.

"You have odd, odd friends Yami," Bakura sighed, standing up and brushing his clothes off. He took a look around the cave and narrowed his eyes. "How did we get here?"

"Don't you get it?" Yami said as he stood up as well. "They saved us when the boat tipped over."

"Then they really were..." Bakura mumbled, trailing off as he looked at the ground and tried to add the facts up in his head. "The wave hit he boat and we got thrown over.."

"You're saying they really are mermaids or mermen or whatever? You really must have hit your head Yami," Seto said as he stood up, frowning at the loss of his laptop and briefcase.

"I hope it was real!" Mariku shouted excitedly after being silent the whole time. "That would mean other magical things might be real too, a whole nother world out there."

Yami raised an eyebrow as he looked at his, well, insane friend. "I didn't know you were into that sort of stuff..?"

Mariku nodded his head rapidly. "Imagine, there could be dragons! And plenty of other destructive things too!"

"Why would I have expected anything else," Yami muttered, plopping himself back down on the cave floor and looked out to where they had left. 'I hope they come back soon,' Yami thought as he trailed his fingers in the water, 'there's so much I want to know about them..'

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**I have homework to do.. so til next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heres chapter 3.. Um, I dont really have anything else to say..**

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Yami pulled out a little box from under his bed, sat down and opened it up. He scavenged around, finding old photos, a few letters from his father when he'd been overseas, and a couple of his favourite toys from when he was younger. He found what he was looking for and picked it up, placing the box next to him and looked at the object in his hands, a small piece of cloth wrapped around the necklace Yugi gave him when they first met. He'd kept it there to keep it from getting damaged, and to remind himself that it hadn't just been a dream.

He pulled the cloth away from the necklace and threw it to the side. He looked at the shells on it, tracing his fingers over for a few seconds before putting it around his neck. It seemed the right thing to do since Yugi was still wearing the millennium puzzle.

"Yami!" He heard his father yell.

He quickly packed away the box and ran out his door and down the stairs into the kitchen to his father, a tanned man with short black hair.

"Hey Dad," Yami said as he sat down at the table and started eating the eggs his dad had prepared him.

"Got everything you need for school?" His dad asked, taking his seat across from him and started eating his own breakfast.

"Uhuh," Yami mumbled through his food as he tried to eat it as fast as he could. He shovelled the last bit into his mouth and stood up. He picked up his plate and put it in the sink before leaning over the back of his dad's chair and hugging him goodbye and going and picking up his bag. "See ya dad!" he called as he walked out the front door.

Yami checked his watch as he walked down the sidewalk, _'I'll get there with about 20 minutes to spare'_, he thought to himself as he turned the corner.

* * *

"That again?" Seto said when Yami arrived at school, pointing at the the seashells around his neck.

"Yugi gave it to me when I first met him," he replied slightly defensively.

"Let's just go find Bakura and Mariku," Seto said, still thinking what had happened yesterday was a load of rubbish.

As they would expect, they found Bakura and Mariku stealing clothes from the gym lockers of people who had to train early in the morning.

"Come on, lets get to class," Yami said after he finally managed to convince them to put the clothes back. "I don't want to be late because of you 2 again."

The rest of the day passed like usual, trying to keep Bakura and Mariku out of trouble and only paying attention in the few classes he genuinely liked. It was all over rather quickly and they found themselves walking out the school gates as soon as the teachers let them go.

"Do you guys want to hang out at the beach for a while?" Yami offered, knowing it was practically useless since they barely ever came.

"Sorry, me and Mariku were going to go do something at the mall," Bakura explained, shifting his bag on his shoulder slightly.

Yami rolled his eyes. "Don't get arrested. What about you, Seto?"

Seto shook his head and patted his hand against the bag carrying his new replacement laptop, which thankfully he had backups of all his files. "I've got work I need to do." Seto was always busy ever since he'd taken over Kaibacorp when his father died a little over a year ago, it meant he had almost no time to himself between that and school, and any spare time he had he usually spent with Mokuba.

"Okay, see you guys tomorrow then," Yami said as they all walked off to their different destinations, just managing to hear Mariku asking Bakura if he knew anyway to get Tigers into the mall.

* * *

Yami found himself at the beach a short while later and began walking towards the cave they had been in yesterday, hoping that he might see Yugi there. Of course if the others had come they would have called him insane, not like _they_ weren't, because he was convinced that they had been saved by some mermen. It did sound ridiculous, but he absolutely knew they were real. The others had seen them, there was just no way that they would suddenly start believing it, it would take a bit to convince his friends that it was all real, especially Seto, but he was determined to try. One day maybe they'll come to the beach and they might come across Yugi and his friends again and maybe they might just believe, but there was no promising they would suddenly start believing that merfolk were real without cold hard evidence.. Okay maybe Mariku would, but he's insane, so he's an exception. If Yugi had just stuck around a little while longer.. because they others had seemed to be connecting the dots, especially Bakura. Bakura did seem like he was figuring it out, so if any of them were to believe, it might just be him.

Yami found himself disappointed when he arrived at the cave and it was completely empty, there were no signs that anyone had been there since the previous day. And it continued on like this for everyday that week.

Yami walked along the beach, it was Friday after school and he decided to check the cave at least one more time to see if Yugi had returned. When he did take a step into the cave he was shocked to see Yugi sitting at he edge of the pool playing with the millennium puzzle.

"Yugi?" he whispered, taking another step forward slowly trying not to scare off Yugi.

Yugi looked at Yami and slipped down into the water and peered slightly over the edge of it. "Yami?" He looked behind Yami then pulled himself up slightly to get a better look. "Are your friends with you?" he asked.

Yami shook his head and moved closer when he realised that Yugi wasn't going to swim away from him, he knelt down beside the water so that it was easier to talk with Yugi.

"You're wearing it? You weren't the other day," Yugi said, suddenly noticing his old necklace hanging around Yami's neck.

Yami smiled and nodded his head. "I found it a few days ago, I didn't want it damaged so I haven't worn it in a long time. You've been wearing the puzzle this whole time though," he said, pointing at the puzzle around his neck.

"Always," Yugi said, smiling up at Yami as he played with the puzzle.

Yami crossed his legs and rested his arms on his knees as he leaned down to Yugi. "I haven't seen you in years," he muttered, trailing off as he looked at Yugi's tail which still fascinated him.

"I lived in a different part of the ocean up until a several months ago."

Yami nodded his head again.

"Do you know what that necklace is actually for?" Yugi said suddenly. He smirked when he saw Yami shake his head, he grabbed onto Yami's wrist and pulled him forward, dragging Yami into the water with him.

Yami splashed around for a while as he tried to figure out where up was, Yugi giggled as he watched Yami finally calm down and glare at Yugi.

"What was that for?" Yami finally coughed when he found his way to the surface.

Yugi smiled and grabbed Yami's wrist again then ducked under the water, pulling Yami with him. He swam out the entrance of the cave, still dragging Yami along after him. He turned and looked at Yami who was currently freaking out.

Yugi smiled calmly and pointed at the necklace around Yami's neck. "It's okay," he said.

Yami warily opened his mouth and widened his eyes when he realised that he wasn't having any problems breathing. "Yugi?" he whispered, still confused at what was happening.

Yugi floated over to him and put one hand on his neck, touching the necklace. "It allows you to breath underwater," he said, watching as Yami's face relaxed and he nodded, understanding why Yugi had dragged him into the water.

"Come on," Yugi said as he pulled Yami along a little further before letting go, turning around to face him and signalled to everything around them.

"Wow," Yami breathed as he finally looked at the ocean around them. Colourful schools of fish swam around them, bright plants and corals surrounded them, the sun shone through from the surface and made everything glow, the sight was breathtaking.

Yugi smiled when he saw Yami completely awestruck from the sight. He grabbed Yami's arm and pulled his further through the water, his tail splashing out behind him as he showed Yami around the ocean for the first time.

The two spent a couple of hours under the water until they both realised Yami had to go home, it was getting a lot darker and the sun was almost completely down. When they got back to the cave Yami pulled Yugi up onto the edge of the pool and sat next to him, his legs hanging in the water.

"I'm completely soaked," Yami moaned as he looked down at his drenched clothes.

"Next time you should bring spare clothes then," Yugi said, smirking as Yami looked miserably down at his clothes.

Yami looked up at him in disbelief. "You're the one that dragged me into the water in the first place!" he argued.

"I know," Yugi said as he laughed at Yami.

Yami looked around at the darkening cave and decided he it was time for him to go. "It's getting late, so I have to get home or my dad will be worried. I already promised the others that we would hang out tomorrow but I can come by after that."

Yugi dropped his smile and nodded seriously and slipped back into the water.

"You know, you're a lot bolder than the last time I met you," Yami realised, remembering how Yugi had barely talked the first time they'd met.

"Bold am I?" Yugi said, grinning when he saw Yami raise an eyebrow. Yugi quickly grabbed Yami's arm and pulled him back into the water, waiting for Yami to gain his balance before wrapping both his hands around Yami's neck and giving him a light kiss on his cheek. He took in Yami's shocked expression and smiled to himself, before blushing and ducking under the water and back out of the cave.

Yami remained in the water for a minute, watching the spot where Yugi had vanished, before he finally shook his head and woke himself up. He got out of be water and left the cave, still blushing as he walked down the beach.

Yes, Yugi was definitely a little bolder than he was before.


	4. Chapter 4

**Eek, kinda took a while to update this, but I finally wrote it! I hope you guys like it, I thought it was kinda sweet when writing it x) **

* * *

Mermaids and what else? - Chapter 4:

After a pointless day with his friends of running from the cops when Bakura and Mariku got caught tagging, Seto paying off the cops, and Yami having to scold his friends even though he knew they'd never listen, he finally made it to the beach a couple of hours before the sun would go down.

He was leaning against the back wall of the cave with his eyes closed when he heard Yugi call his name. He smiled and opened his eyes, pushed himself off the wall and walked over to where Yugi was. "Hey," he said as he say down next to the water and put his legs in it while Yugi pulled himself up to sit next to him. "I didn't bring any spare clothes, so no pulling me into the water this time!" Yami said, smiling despite his tone.

"Fine," Yugi sighed and rolled his eyes, he started giggling when he saw the expression Yami gave him. "I promise!"

"How can I be sure?" Yami asked, not believing Yugi for a minute.

Yugi pouted and Yami could swear his heart skipped a beat. "Well I don't want you getting sick and not being able to visit me."

Yami nodded his head. "Well there's that,seeing as how I'm so amazing.." he said. A huge grin broke out on his face when Yugi lightly punched him on his arm.

"You're not_ that _great," Yugi stated, rolling his eyes as Yami frowned and pretended to look hurt.

"Well if you don't want me here I can leave," Yami said jokingly as he started to get up but was quickly pulled back down by Yugi.

Yugi tugged on his arm, his amethyst eyes glittering brightly. "You can't leave yet!"

Yami smirked and leaned closer to Yugi. "Give me one good reason," he said, his ego about the size of Mt Everest at that moment.

Yugi put on his own smirk, released Yami's arm and pushed him back slightly. "What else are you going to do?" he asked playfully.

"I could be hanging out with my friends right now instead."

"And I'm not your friend?" Yugi asked, a small smile on his lips.

Yami moved closer slightly and leaned down a little. "You're much more than my friend Yugi," he said, grinning when he got the blush he was aiming for out of Yugi.

Yugi pushed him and giggled slightly. "Stop teasing!"

Yami laughed and leaned back on his wrists. "Oh you know you love it."

Yugi was hiding behind his bangs and blushing like mad which just made Yami laugh even harder. "Oh shut it," Yugi growled, punching Yami in the arm again.

Yami snickered but stopped laughing. "I can't stay long by the way, I promised my dad I'd be home soon, seeing as how I'd been out so late the last couple of days."

Yugi nodded his head in understanding, brushing some hair behind his hair in the process.

"I promised Seto I'd babysit Mokuba tomorrow, and then I have to help my dad because we're helping one of his friends move houses. I could probably come round later that night." Yami looked at Yugi and saw him nod his head again.

After just 20 minutes it was time for Yami to leave again, and deciding since last time it was Yugi who'd made the bold first move, it was his turn. Yami wrapped an arm around Yugi's shoulders, much to the young merboy's surprise, and burried his face into his hair and gave the top of his head a quick kiss before he jumped up from his spot and went towards the exit.

"See ya Yugi," Yami said as he stepped out of the cave.

All he heard was a faint squeak from Yugi as what happened finally settled in and Yami chuckled to himself while he walked away.

* * *

After an exhausting day taking care of Mokuba, not that Yami didn't like him, he was just too energetic for the teen, and help his dad with his friends furniture, he found himself lying on his bed with his face buried into his pillows. Soon he'd sneak out and go visit Yugi, but first he had to make sure his dad was asleep, which was usually about now, so he sluggishly pushed himself up and sat up on the bed. He perked up within moments when he remembered _why_ he was sneaking out.

He didn't know why, but Yugi had a major effect on him, it had come from practically no where but now he found himself happier than he'd ever felt before anytime he was around the young merboy. Sure he'd flirted with him a little, but he wasn't sure if Yugi really felt the same way as he did, though the signs signs _were_ there. Maybe it was time to see if Yugi felt the same way. With that thought in mind he got up from his bed and walked over to the window.

With a click and a thud he was outside in the chilly air navigating his way through the dark streets trying to find his way to the beach, thankfully he knew the streets like the back of his hand, so even without the slight light the moon shed he would have been able to tell where he was going.

What would he say to Yugi though, he couldn't deny that he felt something strong for the other boy, but was the feeling mutual? Did Yugi already have someone else? Well it was time to find out.

He slipped around the corner and walked into he cave and saw that Yugi was already there, but something was wrong. Was he crying?

"Yugi," he whispered as he rushed over to the other and sat down next to him, "What's wrong?"

Yugi wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Yami's face, he gave a small smile when he saw the concern glittering in his crimson eyes. "My friends don't like this.."

Yami narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Nervously, Yugi began to twirl a bit of hair around his fingers. "They don't like me being around you, they don't trust you." Another tear escaped his eye as he looked straight at Yami. "They don't want me to see you anymore," he sobbed.

Of course they didn't trust them, why would they? He was a human who knew their secret, and he didn't blame them, he would act the same way if he was in their position. But there was no way he would _ever_ do anything to hurt Yugi, not in his lifetime could he hurt the boy he had fallen so easily for.

As to not startle the now crying boy, he wrapped an arm slowly around Yugi's shoulders and rested his chin on the other boy's head. "Yugi, they're just concerned for you, they don't know me well enough to trust me around you." He pulled away slightly and held Yugi's chin in one hand, lightly brushing his thumb over his cheek. "They just want to protect you, I understand that, I do too."

Yugi smiled and blushed as he buried his head back in Yami's chest. "I know that, I just wish they understood and knew you like I do. Maybe they'd change their minds about you."

Yami ran a hand comfortingly through Yugi's hair, trying to calm the young merboy. "You should bring them along the next time you come, that way I can talk to them and convince them that I would never do anything to hurt you."

Yami felt Yugi nod his head and a slight sigh escape his lips. "I don't know if they would want to though, they just don't like humans at all, mostly Malik and Joey.." Yugi looked up at Yami from his place in his arms and frowned slightly as he thought. When he finally spoke it was a mere whisper, "Why do you care so much about me?"

Yami wondered if Yugi could feel the rate his heart was beating, because Yugi's hand was placed _directly_ over his heart. This was the moment he would sink or swim, would Yugi return his feelings or would he reject him and swim off, never to see him again?

Yami moved Yugi away from him and instead just took his hand, lack their fingers together as he looked up shyly through his bangs. Yami tried to speak but felt the words get stuck in his throat, he swallowed nervously and tried again. "Yugi, you're unique, not just because of what you are but in the way that you are the only person who has ever been able to make my heart beat as fast as it does for you. After we finally met again, I could never dream of letting you go. I want you to understand that no matter what you're friends say, I will _always_ be here to protect you, I care too much for you. I think I have feelings for you.. Or well, I know I do.."

Fear of rejection caused Yami to look away, but was quickly looking back at Yugi when he felt a hand turn his head around and all he could see was the beautiful smile on Yugi's face.

Yugi dropped his hand once he got Yami's attention, using it to brush the hair from his eyes, something Yami had noticed he did whenever he was nervous. "I like you too Yami.." he said shyly, ducking his head as the blush on his cheeks became redder.

Yami chuckled and tightened his grip on Yugi's hand. "Do you think your friends will like me?"

Yugi sighed dreamily and looked at their entwined hands. "I know they will." He looked back at Yami and leaned into him a little, their arms brushing as they sat side by side by the water.

Yugi returned his feelings, this was his favourite moment.. Wait scratch that, _this_ was his favourite moment he decided when he found Yugi's lips against own. He closed his eyes and immediately let to of Yugi's hand and instead used it to hold Yugi's head in place as he in turn felt both of Yugi's arms wrap around his neck. His hand gripped Yugi's hair, not wanting to let to any time soon, but the moment had to end. He pulled away and looked into Yugi's eyes, seeing the same love he felt reflected in them.

Despite what Yugi's friends said, he would never let Yugi go, not now, not when he knew Yugi felt the same way he did. Even with their differences they would make it work any way possible, they had to try.

* * *

**I'll update as soon as I can, so for now, review and tell me what you thought :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter aint so great, but I just want to move on with the story so I dont really want to hang around rewriting this chapter or anything. I hope its okay.**

**Also, my heart goes out to all those who died in that school shooting today, all the families, everyone involved who had to go through that. I can't even imagine that someone would go into an _elementary school_ and shoot _children.. _I really hope the families are okay. I can't imagine.. what it would be like.. **

**Um, anyway.. Heres the next chapter, should probably stop typing before I go on anymore..**

* * *

Mermaids and what else? - chapter 5:

Yami couldn't wait until after school when he could visit Yugi again, he'd been hoping Yugi's friends would agree to meet him, he wanted to make a good impression on them. The next step would be to show his own friends that they were real.

Right now him and the others were all sitting in math, bored out of their minds as Ms Steele blabbered on about something none of them cared about. At least his friends made the class_ interesting_ to say the least.

"Hey Miss! Seto just pulled the finger at you behind your back!" Bakura yelled, interrupting the entire class, not that they minded.

The teacher just rolled her eyes, not interested in wasting her time on them, and Yami had to agree with her, it just wasn't worth trying to get through to Bakura or Mariku, and Seto was already a genius. Oh the hours the teacher had wasted on them..

"Mariku, keep your perverted hands to yourself!" Seto yelled at the Egyptian and scooted his chair a few feet away.

This was how almost every class they had together went, which because of Seto's connections, was a lot. They would argue at the back of the class and everyone else would try their best to ignore them, only getting involved when Bakura and Mariku started throwing punches.

"Can anyone answer the question on the board?" the teacher asked, praying someone in her class had a future.

"7!" Bakura yelled, looking up from the desk the was carving into with his knife to look at the teacher.

The teacher sighed and went to the board. "The answer is 3x + 4^2," she replied. "Not even close to it Bakura."

Bakura just shrugged and went back to his carving.

Yup, just a normal day.

* * *

"See ya, Im just heading to the beach!" Yami yelled as he ran off, not giving his friends a chance to say anything.

Today was the day he was suppose to meet Yugi's friends, the boys supposedly called Malik, Ryou, and Joey. Yugi hadn't told him much about them because he'd thought it would be best if they trusted him enough to tell him about them themselves. Right now all he wanted was for them to not hate him, for them to at least give him a chance.

Yami arrived at the cave and was happy to see Yugi's friends all lazing around the edge of the water. He'd only seen them briefly one before, so now was his chance to get them to like him, because he may need see them again.

"Hi," he said quietly as he walked in, trying not to startle any of them. He couldn't help but grin when he saw Yugi smiling at him.

"Hey," Yugi replied, gaining the attention of his friends.

There was a small chorus of 'hellos' before Yami was bombarded with questions.

"What do you want with Yugi?"

"You aren't planning on hurting him are you?"

"If ya even touch Yug', I will make ya regret it!"

Okay, so the last one was less of a question..

"Guys, please," Yugi said, placing a hand in the shoulder of the golden tailed merboy next to him.

Yami, not sure what to do, simply stayed back and stood in the centre of the cave, awkwardly playing with the ends of his sleeves.

The white haired one that was resting his arms on the edge while his body floated in the water looked up at Yami curiously. "Why are you here?"

Yami took a couple steps closer and sat down near him so that it was easier for them to talk. "I'm here for Yugi."

The albino decided to try again. "Yes, but why Yugi?"

Yami cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable at being the centre of attention. "Because I care about him..."

"You care about him? You've known him a week, how can you possibly come to that conclusion so quickly?" the tanned merboy asked skeptically.

Yami buried his face in his hands, trying to avoid their intense stares. "It's just how I feel, I can't explain it."

"What about you Yug'?" the green tailed boy asked, turning towards his blushing friend.

"I trust him," Yugi replied shyly, twirling his hair around with his finger.

"Before you start asking more questions, can I know your names?" Yami asked, feeling a little awkward not knowing who was who.

The white haired boy with the brown eyes and tail smiled at him and held out one hand towards him. "Ryou."

Yami smiled and shook his hand. "Yami."

The blonde boy with the scruffy blonde hair and the green tail introduced himself as Joey and the last as Malik. Once they exchanged names, it was back to the questions.

"Why should we trust you?"

"Why do you like Yugi so much?"

"If you hurt Yug', I'll send a shark after you the next time ya go swimming."

Once again, not a question.. But before he was able to say anything, there was a noise at the entrance if the cave, and in entered a second white haired boy.

"This again Yami?" Bakura growled as he walked over, eyeing each of the merboys.

None of them fled this time, because they wanted to know more about Yami, and they knew that Bakura was one of his friends because of the last time that they'd seen him.

"We're real ya know," Joey snapped, his tail splashing the surface of the water.

"Prove it!" Bakura dared, walking further and taking a seat next to Yami.

He could already tell that Bakura and Joey weren't going to get along well.

"Can you see somewhere that my tail becomes separate from the rest of me? Na! It's all attached!"

"Pft, as if." Before anyone could say anything, Bakura pulled the merboy that was closest to him, which happened to be Ryou, onto his lap. He trailed his fingers along the skin on his side as it slowly became replaced with brown scales. "Well it sure feels real..."

Malik and Joey glared at Bakura but didn't touch him, they didn't want him to have anything against them, they definitely didn't want him to rat them out. And it didn't appear Ryou had a problem with it either, not when he was blushing red and hiding behind his long hair.

"Um Bakura?" Yami said awkwardly, trying to gain the attention of his friend.

"Yeah?" Bakura muttered looking up from the tail.

"I think you're making Ryou uncomfortable," Yami pointed out.

Bakura looked at the blushing face of the merboy and simply shrugged his shoulders. "If the cuties uncomfortable, he can tell me." That comment only made Ryou blush even more.

"Who_ are_ you?" Malik asked, one eyebrow raised as he stared at the strange boy that his friend was seated on.

"Bakura, a friend of Yami," he replied, still poking at Ryou's tail.

"Friend?" Malik scoffed.

"You haven't met Mariku yet," Yami sighed.

"I still don't believe you," Bakura said, abruptly pushing Ryou back into the water.

Yugi swam over to Ryou and lightly touched the necklace around his neck. Ryou nodded in understanding and took his necklace off. "Put this on," Ryou ordered as he handed the necklace to Bakura.

"Why?" Bakura growled as he looked over the necklace in his hands.

"Just put it on and you'll see," Ryou sighed.

Once the necklace was on, Ryou immediately pulled Bakura into the water. About a minute later they resurfaced.

"I can breath underwater!" Bakura shouted, his drenched hair clinging to her face, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

Yami and Ryou was chuckled while the others just shot a confused expression at the insane albino.

"I'll show you around some more," Ryou giggled, pulling on the older boys arm.

The boys were gone in less than a second, quickly followed by Malik who 'didn't trust that psychotic pervy albino', as he said, which left just Yami, Yugi, and Joey in the cave.

"So Yami," Joey started slowly. "Why should we trust you? You're just another human, no different from the rest."

"He is different!" Yugi snapped, surprising both Yami and Joey. When he saw the looks they have him he floated back slightly and awkwardly brushed his hand through his hair. "He's different.."

Yami smiled at Yugi, he couldn't help it, but the way Yugi jumped to defending him made him love him even more.. wait, love?

"Tell me about yourself Yams," Joey said as he put his arm on the edge to rest his head on them.

Yami shifted awkwardly where he was sitting, not quite sure where to start. "Well, I live with my dad, my mum died when I was 4. It's just been us since then."

"Sorry to here that, I don't really know my mother very well, she's hardly ever around for me and my sis," Joey said sympathetically.

"My parents died so long ago I don't even remember them," Yugi said as he swam closer, pulling himself up to sit closer to Yami.

"I didn't know," Yami replied as he wrapped and arm around Yugi's waist, not minding that he was getting his clothes wet. "I'm really sorry."

Yugi gave him a small smile and rested his head on Yami's shoulder. "It's okay, I didn't know them and I just live with my grandad now."

Joey found himself smiling as he looked at the interaction between the two boys, he was starting to see how much Yami actually cared.

* * *

After about an hour of talking and joking around, Joey was finally beginning to trust Yugi's judgement. Soon Bakura, Ryou, and Malik all returned.

"It's amazing down there Yami!" Bakura yelled as he tried to squeeze the water out of his clothes.

"I know," Yami said smiling. "Yugi showed it to me once."

"Damn Im soaked," Bakura muttered, pulling off his shirt and lying it on a rock, hoping to dry it out.

Yami chuckled when he saw Ryou sneaking a glance at Bakura, apparently he and Yugi weren't the only ones with a romance budding. _Apparently_ he wasn't the only one that noticed.

"Ryou, stop ogling Bakura, we're here to talk to Yami," Malik snapped as he floated over and rested his arms on the cave floor next to Joey's.

Ryou, now blushing like mad, swam over to Joey's other side. Bakura chuckled and winked at Ryou, only making the white haired merboy blush even more.

"Yami, I have to say you were right," Bakura admitted as he came and sat next to the other teen who still had Yugi sitting in his arms.

Yami smirked victoriously. "I told you, but none of you would listen." He shifted slightly so that he could sit more comfortably on the ground.

"Yeah yeah, enjoy it while it lasts," Bakura growled.

"You know," Ryou said, finally speaking up. "You should get home, you look really cold."

Bakura grinned and held out his arms. "I'm sure you could make me warm."

Yami sighed, and for the next 10 minutes Bakura continued to flirt with Ryou. Well if he wasn't being obvious...

"Come on Bakura," Yami said, pulling on his friend's arm and throwing him his still damp shirt. "Time to go. You can return tomorrow."

Bakura moaned and threw on his shirt. "Fine, see ya kitten," Bakura purred and winked at Ryou.

Ryou ducked his head and blushed at the nickname, not that he knew what a kitten was.. But still..

With all of Bakura's constant flirting he almost regretted every insisting that his friends meet the merboys.. But it was worth it in the end, that he was sure of when he saw the cute smile Yugi gave him as they left the cave.

Yami smirked to himself as he and Bakura walked down the beach. "Well I see Ryou had quite the affect on you.."

To his surprise, rather than being shoved into the water while Bakura threw some defensive insults at him, he actually nodded and agreed, a dreamy look on his face.

Well if Bakura was finally happy he wasn't going to do anything to interfere.


	6. Chapter 6

**I am sorry it took me so long to update this! I just guess I forgot about it until yesterday I was so bored I just found myself writing this. I never meant to take 3 months or however long its been but I just forgot, but thankfully I haven't abandoned this story :)**

**Anyway, this chapter is pretty much some tendershipping stuff because I got completely sidetracked from what I was originally planning on writing, so I'll do _that_ next chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 6:

"Yami, do we ever say anything to Mariku and Seto?"

Yami looked up from his homework, surprised at the sudden question.

He and Bakura were both at Seto's house babysitting Mokuba while he was out, Bakura had only come along because they had been planning to go visit Yugi and Ryou but were now putting it off just a couple of hours until Seto returned home.

Yami tapped his pencil on the table as he thought. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced at Mokuba who was still to focused on his Halo game to pay them any attention.

"I think it depends what Yugi and the others think.. It's their business really. If one day they want to meet Seto and Mariku I think that would be great, but for now we shouldn't say anything," he decided, scribbling down another answer on his page.

"Makes sense I guess," Bakura muttered.

"Mokuba?"

"Seto!" Mokuba yelled and went flying out of the room.

Seto walked into the room with Mokuba clinging to him and gently pried the younger boy off of him. His eyes landed on Yami and he nodded his head slightly. "Thanks for watching over Mokuba for me." Seto sat down on the couch and dropped his briefcase on the floor next to it.

"It's no problem, I always like hanging out with him." Yami stood up from his seat, stretching his arms over his head.

"He really sucks at Halo," Bakura muttered, ruffling the younger Kaiba's hair.

"Language," Seto growled, throwing the nearest cushion at him.

Bakura dodged the flying cushion and raised his hands up in defence. "Not really that bad a word," he said and winked at Mokuba.

Mokuba giggled and tried to wrestle the next cushion out of his brother's hands. "See ya later!" he called, now practically sitting on Seto.

"See ya," Yami said, waving to the two Kaiba brothers on his way out of the room. Bakura followed with a quick wave towards Mokuba, ignoring his fuming friend.

Yami tugged on his jacket as they walked down the street in the direction of the beach, Bakura silently trudged along next to him.

Since Bakura had met Ryou he'd been a lot nicer than he use to be, he was calmer and more relaxed and didn't go around causing as much trouble as he use to. It honestly surprised Yami, Bakura was the one person he never thought would change but Ryou _had _changed that and only in a month no less.

"How long do you think this will last?" Bakura asked out of the blue.

Yami turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "How long what will last?"

Bakura ran his hand through his hair awkwardly as he glanced to the side. "This thing with Ryou and Yugi. It's not like we'll live here forever, one day we'll move away won't we? And we won't see them again."

Yami blinked and looked at his friend who still didn't dare looking in his direction. "Do you really see yourself with Ryou in the future?" he asked.

"Of course I do," Bakura grumbled, kicking a rock down the street.

"Then why would you move away?"

"We'll have to wont we? Everyone moves away eventually," he said, finally looking at Yami. The look in his eyes genuinely concerned Yami, Bakura never cared this much about anything.

"Not everyone," Yami said shaking his head. "Some people have lived here all their lives, we _are _allowed to do the same thing."

"He lives in the water, Yami. How is a relationship like that even meant to work?"

To be honest, he had no idea what the answer for that was, he didn't know himself. "Whatever happens, happens, and there's nothing we can do about that. Just trust him," Yami replied, resting a hand on Bakura's shoulder encouragingly.

Bakura nodded but didn't say anything, he clearly wasn't convinced.

For he next 10 minutes neither of them spoke as they walked down the beach towards the cave. If was later than they had meant to come and the sun was beginning to set but they knew that Yugi and Ryou would be waiting for them. They always were.

"Hey," Bakura said as he walked over to where Ryou and Yugi were sitting, giggling like little school girls.

"Hi," Ryou said, a smile forming on his face as Bakura sat next to him, dangling his legs into the water and taking hold of Ryou's hand.

Despite whatever doubts either of them had, they vanished when they saw Yugi and Ryou. With them it really didn't matter _how_ things would work out in the end, they just knew it would.

* * *

"Where are you two always going?" Seto asked the next day as the all sat by their usual tree eating lunch.

"What?" Yami asked, trying to play it off as though he didn't know what they were talking about.

"You two," Mariku said, pointing an accusing finger at them, "Are constantly disappearing without us."

"Not really, we just hang out a little more than we use to," Yami mumbled, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Bakura ignored all of them while he, shockingly, worked on his homework.

"Are you two dating or something?" Seto muttered as he hit send on an email he had been typing.

"God no," Bakura said, laughing at the mere thought.

"It sure seems like it though with you two always hanging out." Mariku grabbed Bakura's arm and dragged him towards him, causing the white haired boy to topple over sideways. "We haven't pulled a proper prank in weeks!"

Seto rolled his eyes as he closed his laptop. "And I'm sure that's _so_ awful."

"It really is though!" Mariku whined.

Bakura sat back up and shoved Mariku away from him before stuffing his things back into his bag. "Mind your own business would you?" he growled, standing up and walking off towards the school.

"Looks like its someone's time of the month again," Seto muttered as they all watched Bakura stalk off.

"What's his problem," Mariku asked cluelessly.

Yami frowned as Bakura disappeared around a corner. "He's just a little confused about something."

Seto gave him a look that said you-know-something.

"I'll talk to him in science," Yami said as he stood up and grabbed his own bag. "And we are _not_ dating," he shouted over his shoulder.

* * *

"Bakura," Yami sighed as he sat down next to his friend at their usual seats in the back of the science room.

"What?" Bakura growled as he stopped carving stuff into the desk with his compass.

"You need to talk to Ryou," he said quietly as the rest of the class slipped into the room.

"Ryou, why?" Bakura muttered as he threw his book open and pretended to look over his notes.

"Obviously this is about him and there's clearly nothing I can do to help you," Yami said dryly, pulling his own books out of his bag.

"It's fine," Bakura hissed as the teacher walked in and the rest of the class quietened.

Yami cast a concerned glance at Bakura but decided against saying anything, it was Bakura's business, not his.

* * *

"Are you going to go see Ryou today?" Yami asked as he and Bakura walked down the street together. They both lived in a similar direction so recently they had taken to walking together.

"Yeah, I was going to see him later tonight, sneak out of the house when my parents go to sleep because we're supposed to be having visitors and my parents don't want me ditching like I usually do." Bakura adjusted the strap of the bag on his shoulder. "They're suppose to be some couple my dad use to be friends with and their daughter, apparently they just moved here."

"Will she be going to our school?" Yami asked.

Bakura shrugged. "I don't know anything yet." They were nearing the corner they usually split at. "Are you going to see Yugi?"

"Yeah, he said there was something he wanted to show me," Yami replied, with a quick glance in Bakura's direction.

Bakura was staring at the ground as he walked along, not listening that much into their conversation.

Yami sighed, Bakura had been acting weird. "I'll see ya tomorrow okay?"

Bakura nodded his head, hardly noticing when Yami walked off in the opposite direction.

* * *

"Bakura, come down here please!" Bakura's mum shouted.

He pulled out his earphones and paused the song he was listening to.

Time to spend time with strangers he'd never met before.

"Bakura," his mother said when he finally climbed down the stairs as enter the living room, "This is Mr and Mrs Nosaka, and their daughter Miho."

"Hi," Bakura muttered as he looked at them.

Mr Nosaka was wearing a suit and had gelled back brunet hair, Mrs Nosaka was putting her red jacket on the coat hanger, her shoulder length hair was tied up. Miho, he presumed, was the same age as him and had blue almost violet hair, she seemed, honestly, dull.

Sure it's unfair to judge a person before you get to know them, but he family seemed just a _little _too uptight for him to actually bother hanging around for the whole night.

"Nice to meet you," Miho said politely with a shy smile.

"You too," he mumbled distractedly, more focused on when he would be able to sneak out.

"Come sit down with our guests, Bakura," his mother said as the others all took a seat.

Bakura nodded his head, and luckily for him, the only seat left was next to Miho on the coach.

_This is going to be a long night._

* * *

He had managed to get away from the table as soon as he'd finished eating, but his mother had decided he should take Miho with him. So now he was awkwardly sitting on the chair in front of his desk while she sat on his bed.

"So where did you move from?" Bakura asked trying to be polite, which was NOT like him at all, but he did not want to get in trouble for upsetting the new girl and get grounded and be unable to go out and see Ryou.

"Oh well, we actually move around a lot so..." she mumbled awkwardly, trailing off as she played with the sleeve of her hoodie.

"Right," Bakura sighed. This was _definitely_ going to be a long night. "Do you know anyone here?"

Miho shook her head, not bothering to look at him.

"Are you going to Domino high school? Not that there's any other place around..."

"Yeah, I am," she said, shuffling slightly on the bed and straightening up her little yellow skirt.

"If you want, me and my friends can show you around," he muttered, cringing while he did so. Why was he being so nice? Well, nice for him anyway..

"That would be great," she said with a smile, beginning to look around his room.

They sat awkwardly in silence for a few minutes before Miho started talking again.

"So, uh.. Do you have a girlfriend?"

The question surprised him, did she have a thing for him already? Not that there weren't tons of girls already crushing on him at their school he thought smugly.

"Well Im seeing someone.." He wasn't exactly sure how to explain it. _Oh yeah, did I mention that he's a merboy. Oh, and my friends also dating one?_

"Oh, have you been seeing her long?" She asked, completely unfazed.

Okay, maybe she didn't have a thing for him already..

"Well actually, Im _kinda_ dating this boy called Ryou..." His eyes widened the moment it left his mouth. Had he really told some stranger that when he hadn't even told his own friends?

What he wasn't expecting, was the high pitch squeal that came from her.

"What's he look like? Is he cute? How long have you been dating? Can I meet him?"

Well this was new...

"Huh?" Was all he managed to get out amongst her jumble of random questions.

"I think it's really cute," Miho said, a massive grin spread across her face. She made herself comfortable by crossing her legs on the bed and placing her elbows on them so she could rest her head in her hands. "A lot of my friends from my last school were gay too, I just think its really adorable!"

This night had gone from boring to terrifying. Now he had some Yaoi obsessed fangirl sitting in his room with the knowledge that he had something with Ryou.

It was decided. This was how he died.

* * *

The night was long, and the only way to get through it was thinking of how he would get to sneak out later and see Ryou, which of course Miho guessed he was thinking about Ryou and would start freaking out even more.

He was more than happy when her and her parents left, and he barely had the strength to get up off his bed and sneak out, but he'd already said he was and he wasn't going back on it.

"Annoying bitch," Bakura muttered as he climbed out of his window onto the tree branch that hung right outside his window. Over the years the tree outside his room had been very useful, he couldn't imagine having done half the things he'd done without it.

"They could have left half an hour earlier but no, she had to keep going on about Jeff and Rory from her last school."

So it wasn't exactly that she seemed like a bad person... She just couldn't shut up for the life of her.

He was more than happy when he successfully got down the tree and made his way to the beach.

"You're a little late," Ryou commented when Bakura finally entered the cave.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he took his seat next to Ryou. "The people my parents invited over stayed longer than I expected."

Ryou looked at Bakura closely and noticed how exhausted he was. "How was it?" he asked, reaching out and taking Bakura's hand.

Bakura sighed and used his other hand to brush his hair back like he usually did when he was distressed. "You have no idea," he mumbled.

"You okay?" Ryou asked, gently running his fingers over Bakura's.

"Yeah," Bakura decided when he looked at Ryou, taking in every detail of the boy before him. "Everything's perfect now."

Talking about how things would turn out in the future could wait for later. For now he just wanted to enjoy the moment, in a completely soft and unBakura way, but you change for the ones you love..

"You know," Bakura said a little while later. "You're turning me into a softy."

"How so?" Ryou asked, leaning his head on Bakura's shoulder.

"Like tonight, I usually could have cared less about some strangers my parents invite around but lately I've been trying not to get into trouble so I don't get grounded and can't see you. Not like it would stop me, Id still sneak out, but I couldn't see you whenever I wanted to." Bakura took his hand away from Ryou's and instead used it to brush the hair away from Ryou's eyes.

Ryou just smirked, and that threw Bakura's mind to complete confusion. "That doesn't make you a softy, it just means you like me," he whispered, bringing his hand up to Bakura face and tracing his fingers over his mouth. "And I _think_ I've got you wrapped around my finger," he said faking innocence.

"Yeah right," Bakura scoffed, pulling away from Ryou's hand to prove a point (as much as he didn't want to).

Ryou smiled knowing he had won as Bakura crossed his arms stubbornly. "I do and you know it," he said cheekily in a completely unRyou way.

"I think you've been spending too much time around me. The Ryou I first met was shy and certainly wouldn't act like this," Bakura said with a smile. It wasn't that he didn't like it, no, not at all..

"Well maybe I have," Ryou decided as he put his hand up around Bakura's neck.

"Maybe you have," Bakura agreed, leaning down to press his lips against Ryou's.

Screw his suspicious friends, insane Yaoi fangirls, and doubts about the future, _this _was how everything should be.

* * *

**Yeah, that just happened, I made Miho into a total fangirl.. I wasn't planning on it, it just sorta happened.  
For anyone who doesn't know who Miho is she was in season 0 and stuff..**

**Now I should get started on the next chapter so I dont leave it for months again. See ya!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, sorry it took me so long to post this chapter, and sorry its really short. But its something right? I really need to stop with just the random chapters and get into an actual plot soon, right? Well thats _kinda_ what I'm trying to do now anyway..**

** Sorry if theres any mistakes, auto correct always messes stuff up for me, and I haven't really gone over and checked this a whole lot, etc.. ya know?  
Enough excuses, heres the really short chapter!**

.

* * *

Chapter 7:

"Yami, who were those friends of yours that we saved back when we met again?" Yugi asked, playing with one of the buttons on Yami's shirt. He was still fascinated by human creations.

"Mariku and Seto?" he asked, his hand gently running through Yugi's hair.

Yugi looked up at him and shrugged. Of course he wouldn't know.

Yami chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, Mariku and Seto were the other two guys there besides Bakura and I. They go to school with us. Seto is actually my cousin."

"How come you've never brought them along with you?" Yugi asked, letting go of the button on his shirt.

"I didn't think you would want anyone to know you were here," Yami told him. He'd always figured it was never his right to just tell people about Yugi.

Yugi shrugged and sat up straight. "You met my friends, and we got to meet Bakura," he pointed out.

"Well Bakura just followed me here," he said, brushing back his own wet hair from his face. "I didn't know you wanted to meet them."

"Do you think you could trust them not to say anything?" Yugi asked, leaning against Yami's shoulder and grabbing his hand.

Seto? He could be trusted with a lot of things, and he wasn't one for gossip so he would see no need to tell anyone. Mariku on the other hand couldn't keep a secret, no matter how big or small it was, he didn't even think for a second what it would mean by telling other people, but then again he was insane and no one believed half of what he said anyway...

"I'm not sure," Yami told him. It was a tough call to figure out what his friends would actually do.

"It's your choice," Yugi murmured, closing his eyes and letting his wet hair cover his face slightly.

Yami slowly brushed the hair away from Yugi's eyes and wrapped an arm around him. "I don't want to risk it," he decided, looking down at the nearly sleeping boy.

Yugi was his little secret, he didn't want anyone to spoil this for him. Bakura knowing hadn't been intentional, but it had worked out for the better.

It just wasn't worth the risk.

.

* * *

"Yami, wake up," a voice next to him growled.

Yami blinked open his eyes and drowsily lifted his head from his desk. "What?" he mumbled, looking at Bakura who seemed to be getting ready to throw his pencil case at him.

Bakura put the pencil case down when he saw that his friend was awake. "The bell is going in just a minute, I didn't think you wanted to be left behind," he muttered, throwing the pencil case into his bag.

Yami looked around and noticed everyone putting their stuff away. Quickly he did the same with his books and stretched as he stood up.

He'd stayed later than he usually would with Yugi the previous night and had only had a few hours sleep before he'd gotten up for school.

"Hurry up, Mariku and Seto are waiting for us," Bakura said, shoving Yami when the bell finally rang.

They met Seto and Mariku outside and all walked to the front of the school together.

"So you're still going to be coming with us instead of ditching us like you usually do right? We can torment people at the mall if you come!" Mariku yelled, pulling on Bakura's arm.

"Yeah, yeah," Bakura muttered, taking his arm back from his idiot friend.

* * *

"1 or 2 scoops, Yami?" Bakura asked.

"2," Yami said, walking over to look at the flavours. "I want to actually eat some before you two no doubt steal it and throw in some girl's hair. Two scoops of chocolate."

"Right," Mariku smirked, ordering and paying for them. "Better to wreck their clothes with."

Yami signed and took the ice cream. He walked over to Seto who was talking on the phone to someone, no doubt about business.

"Not getting anything?" he asked as he sat on the bench next to him.

"No," Seto replied as he hung up. He sighed and put him cellphone back into his pocket. "Idiots can't do anything when I'm not there."

Yami just smiled and continued eating the ice cream. After a few moments he looked around and realised he couldn't spot Mariku of Bakura anywhere. "Oh no, where did they go?"

Just then Mariku came running at him, his clothes half covered in ice cream. "Quick Yami, hand me that!"

"What for?" Yami asked, standing up and holding the ice cream away.

"We got into a bit of a fight with these girls, turns out they weren't happy with us when we made their new dresses vanilla and chocolate flavoured, they fought back!" he yelled, grabbing desperately at Yami's ice cream, almost pushing him over as he snatched it.

"Thanks!" he yelled as he ran off to where he assumed Bakura was waiting, planning their revenge no doubt.

It was a wonder that Mariku and Bakura made it through the school day without getting into anymore trouble than they already did. Only last week they both got detention for putting rats in some girls lockers, thankfully Seto was able to get them out of any major trouble, the worst punishments were the ones where they had to clean up after whatever mess they had made. For as long as he'd known them, there wasn't a week at school where they didn't have detention at least once.

"Should we go after them before security does?" Yami asked, looking over at his cousin who was already standing up to go after them.

Seto nodded and picked up his briefcase. "I don't want them getting banned from the mall again, it's always my damn job to fix whatever they've done," he muttered as he walked after them, Yami following casually behind him.

Yami could already tell he'd be getting home late that night.

* * *

It was Saturday at noon, he had agreed to meet Yugi now and even though he was running late, he couldn't help but smile. Things had been going better than he expected, and after a long morning helping his dad clean out the garage he was happy to have the chance to see Yugi again.

With the warmth of the sun, and the soothing sound of the waves, he wasn't prepared for the sudden feeling of fear that engulfed him.

"Yami! Help! There was a shark, it hurt Yugi," Ryou yelled when he saw him enter.

Slowly his gaze fell to Yugi's still figure. His bangs covered his eyes, blood slowly trickled down his face from underneath his hair. From where he stood he could clearly see the large tear on his arm, the blood from it dripped down onto the rocks.

Everything stopped, all he could hear was the pounding of his heart in his ears.

"Yugi.."


End file.
